A person's style of dress and personal appearance has a direct effect on that person's self-esteem, social and professional status. Belts and suspenders have been practical clothing accessories used for many years by a number of cultures by men, women and children. Although these accessories perform a desired function, they have also provided a means of adding variety and creativity to an individual's appearance. Today there is a large competitive international market for functional and decorative clothing accessories.
Currently there are two methods for attaching suspenders to articles of clothing. The first method uses a clip adapted to grip the top edge of the article of clothing. The second method (called a brace) uses a Y-shaped extension which has a button hole on each prong of the bifurcated end. The buttonholes allow the braces to be attached to buttons that are specifically added to clothing apparel for that purpose.
One problem with the currently available methods for attaching braces is that a person must buy specially adapted clothing with extra buttons. There is another alternative and that is to sew buttons onto clothing which has no buttons but this is cumbersome. The buttons have to be evenly spaced and aligned properly in order to wear a button brace properly.
The alternative is to use suspenders that have an unattractive, unprofessional looking clip for attaching the suspenders to the clothing. There is a system which has been on the market which combines both a button end of a suspender with a clip end. In that system the ends of the suspender have the traditional end loop or "ears" each ending in a button hole for connection to buttons sewn onto the pants. Hanging from the center of the "ears" is a short length of suspender material ending in a traditional clip. This is unsightly and very unprofessional looking. Men and women take pride in their appearance and do not like to be limited in their expression of personal style.
Accordingly, a need exists for an economical, convenient means of attaching suspenders to an article of clothing that can provide an unlimited variety of attractive, sophisticated styles to choose from and that is not limited for use with specially adapted clothing.
A further need exists in the art for a pair of braces that yields a professional appearance whether or not they are used with buttons pre-sewed into articles of clothing.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an attractive, sophisticated visible surface area at the location where suspenders are attached to the clothing apparel.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an economical, convenient means for attaching suspenders/braces to clothing apparel that will allow an individual to customize his/her suspenders/braces to match the clothing in both color and style.
Another object of the present invention is to provide both suspenders and braces that allows for use on both dress and casual clothing and which can be switched easily from one to the other.